U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in a Monday order dismissed former President Donald Trump's attempt to countersue writer E. Jean Carroll, after a jury found him liable of sexually abusing and defaming her in May. Trump attempted to bring a defamation suit against Carroll after she said, "Oh, yes he did," in response to a question about the jury's verdict finding that he sexually abused but did not rape her.
"Indeed, the jury's verdict in Carroll II establishes, as against Mr Trump, the fact that Mr Trump 'raped her', albeit digitally rather than with his penis. Thus, it establishes against him the substantial truth of Ms. Carroll's 'rape' accusations," Judge Kaplan wrote in the dismissal. "In consequence, there is no merit to Mr. Trump's argument that the jury's finding on Penal Law 'rape' question established that Ms. Carroll's statements were false even if her statements reasonably could be construed as referring to 'rape' in that specialized Penal Law sense, a subject on which this Court now expresses no view."
